Archive for the ‘vemon’ Category

It seems we can’t get through a Convention season without seeing some kind of kvetch or drama about how much Conventions are costing fans, and how expensive it’s getting to book and run for Promoters. The general complaint is actors/celebrities ever-increasing prices, against an unstable economy. Guests had to forego trinket shopping and deciding which Actor to meet and which to pass up as autograph prices climbed to as much as $80.

After recent conventions, horror/pop culture fans have started to push back, as a recent “Walking Dead” guest put up a sign advertising $10 for meet and greet. That’s a purple note just to go up and say “Hi”.

In retaliation, frequently-booked actors and their agents posted on social media their outrage at someone treating their fans as customers, and a cash cow, with celebrity agent Sean Clark posting, ” I just want to go on record and say that it didn’t cost ANYTHING to come up to Norman Reedus’ table at HorrorHound Weekend and meet him, get a hand shake or a hug MANY of which he gave out this weekend. Just saying.”

Sid Haig, star of Rob Zombie series “House of 1000 Corpses” and “Devil’s Rejects” went on record as stating he would never go above his $20 autograph price mark. It bears saying Mr. Haig has considerable history as a legend of Horror (Since “Spider Baby”) and Grindhouse in years past, as opposed to a one-hit wonder who’s supporting role in a television series could be seeing an end shortly.

The latest in these critiques is Monster Mania Weekend promoter, Dave Hagan, suing the agency who handles Daveigh Chase, better recognized as “Samara” from “The Ring” series of films.

The charges are breach of contract and mismanagement of funds, as Mr Hagan paid Chase’s agent in advance, with Ms Chase being a glaring no-show at the convention some weeks later. Understandably, Mr Hagan would like to be refunded. Phone calls and emails are going unsanswered.

I couldn’t tell you if this is the beginning of the end of people using Conventions as a convenient second-income, but it seems fans and promoters are fed up, tired of the drama and we might be seeing a trend of guests and celebrities bringing it back to the fan-centric, movie celebration they used to be.

Instead of punishing the father, the whole world celebrated him. Put his picture up on every venue, praised his career, and patted his back, saying “There, there, haters are everywhere…” And said things like, “Sorry, little girl, how do we know your mother didn’t put you up to this?”

This man married his girlfriend’s 19 year old daughter, whom he’d known as a child since she was 10. He wooed and married her, despite dating her mother for years and years. Everyone tsked, but then said “So what? She’s legal! And hey, look at his brilliant work!!”

The courts nearly granted him custody of this little girl. Can you imagine the nightmare years she had ahead of her if he’d won?! I get nauseous thinking of it.

Because of this man’s career, this poor little girl and her mother grew up seeing this face everywhere. In magazines, newspapers, on billboards, Marquees.

When she spoke out publicly, when she was even supported by her brother, media threw up the fact that her mother was unfaithful to this “boyfriend”, stating her brother may’ve been fathered by another man. Because that’s worse than stealing a child’s innocence and trust.

Now imagine you’re watching television. You’re watching the Golden Globes, smiling and watching your favorite Hollywood heroes, and suddenly, you spot him. The man who’s made your life a hell since childhood and they’re CELEBRATING him. Praising him. The man who made you mistrust any other person, made you feel broken, damaged. Are you outraged? Are you thinking this is only a story? Fiction?

No, it happened. It’s still happening. Woody Allen has just been nominated for another Oscar. And Dylan Farrow’s pleas are being ignored once again, just as they have been 20 years ago.

Maybe if Dylan was honored for bravely coming forward…

If Mia Farrow were celebrated for risking her acting career to save her children, because really, she did…
Maybe if Woody were charged with proving he DIDN’T do it… Things might be different. And Dylan would have her closure.

Those cards? Those amusing ADHD jokes? Using this forum to let the world know I’ve had enough.This card here? NOT FUNNY. I keep seeing it and similar cards on my facebook and it’s not amusing, very insulting and frustrating to those of us with ADHD children. It’s victim-blaming (because we’re irresponsible parents) and invalidates our daily struggles with our children.

My child doesn’t “get up” for school. I have to coax him, give him his breakfast and get meds down his throat. Do you know what happens when he doesn’t get his meds? His teachers call and if I’m LUCKY, he goes into the special ed program. Otherwise, I have to pick him up from school and pay a babysitter to go back to work. He runs around, hits, kicks, he once pulled a chair out from under a child because he thought it was “funny”. Trust me, this isn’t something we teach him, or take lightly. When he gets home if he’s being disciplined, he’ll yell and strike out. I’ve had to unplug television, computers, and put him in his room, holding the door because he’ll run right out again. Time outs don’t work because he literally WON’T stay put. What is your answer now? What should I do? When he’s climbing the fridge to get the cookies I told him he couldn’t have? When he’s dragging the cat across the house by the tail? And spank him? Really?? What do you do when he hits you back, hmmm? Anything further than that is abuse. And yes, trust me, we’ve had CPS called on us before, that child will also run outside and down the street, has been doing that since he was three. And how am I to keep my eye on him 24/7? Because I’ll eventually need to go to the bathroom, wash dishes, cook meals, take the dog out, what should I do then?

And this one?? SERIOUSLY?? Again, my child runs UP THE STREET. We’ve had the police called on us two or three times, because he’s got himself round the corner and while searching for him, my finger on ‘911’, here come the police just as my child rounds the corner, finally responding to his name. Oh he’s outside all the time, thank you. And television? He watches 20 minutes at a time. Then goes off to do something else, like shaving the cat or building the entire New York skyline in legos. There’s no in-between with him. The stereotype that we don’t do anything with our children is really getting fucking old. So stop it, or you’ll get the chance to prove your ‘discipline theories’ up close and personal when I drop off my child to your house for the weekend.

unmedicated.

So knock it off. I get that ADHD can be over-diagnosed but dear lord, not in this case, ok? And I’m tired of feeling guilty and I’m tired of being nice about it. Don’t assume shit about someone. Don’t be a dick.

What would you consider “legitimate” rape? And are women’s bodies soooo magical, not only can we create life, but we can halt the beginning of that creation? How does that work? Our pituitaries just yell out, “NOPE THIS IS LEGIT, HOLD THAT OVULATION SCHEDULE” Because believe me, pressure on women to NOT get pregnant is hard enough with regular relationships (and if you don’t have sex, you’re “frigid”, weird or a bitch…) but now we’re expected to control our bodies during unwanted sexual attacks, as well… You know if we had that kind of conrol, believe me, the world would not be nearly so overpopulated. Seriously.

Women who’ve been assaulted do not WANT to be punished twice by first being violated, and most times beaten, then having to carry an unwanted child they KNOW is part of their attacker, then having to go through the pain of labour?? Ugh. Some women I’ve seen on talk shows keep the babies they’ve carried and birthed through rapes, but sweet jesus, that can open up another can of worms…What if the father decides he wants custody? It happened in Oklahoma!!

I’m also very interested to know what he would consider “legitimate” rape? When the girl wasn’t drunk? Dressed conservatively rather than with short skirts? Because I’d like to present a scenario that perhaps might be considered “legitimate”, Mr Akins, just let me know…

A friend of mine was working at a dining establishment in a rather well-heeled section of town, taking out the trash after dark. She was dressed in her uniform of black pants, white button-up collared shirt and her hair was braided. Her assailant came from behind…She never heard him coming. He knocked her unconsious by hitting her in the back of the neck with a baseball bat, and assaulted her in the darkened alley. Several minutes had gone by before her co-workers had discovered her missing and found her unconscious still and bruised, broken and called an ambulance.

Legit enough? If it hadn’t been for her thick braid down her back, the doctors speculated the damage could’ve been worse

Unfortunately, while she was offered Plan B, the second pill made her sick immediately and she found herself pregnant, several months later. Too late for an abortion, as she hadn’t told her friends what had happened, and had gone through the entire first trimester in a fog of denial.

After figuring out this couldn’t be ignored, she came to friends who took her in, attended the baby’s birth and helped her pick out adoptive parents. While this has a happy ending for a couple who would’ve been unable to have a child otherwise, and the baby in question, I can’t describe the fear and uncertainty my friend went through. The pain, the revulsion she felt from her own body’s betrayal by making her live through that time being investigated in the emergency room and having to hear she’d been sexually assaulted. Having to go through the pain of labour and nurturing a newborn for the first few days of his life, not ever having wanted children? Why would you wish this on women? Why would you leave yourself in blissful ignorance of what a woman goes through during these times?

Why won’t you get off your ass and do some fucking research before letting the world know how ignorant you are? The reason some women DON’T get pregnant from rape is because rapists rarely ejaculate. Rape is not about sex. It’s about power and abuse.

Having power over someone weaker than you. No rapist gives a flying fuck if they get you pregnant or not. They just want to have that power, see that fear in your eyes.

THAT’S what people have trouble understanding.

And the whole “She was asking for it” theory just chokes me right up….
True story.
I attended a country party when I was seventeen. I wore a short skirt. I was drunk. I was with people I don’t know. I had a guy hanging on me, wanting sex. Guess what? I didn’t get raped.

Guess why? I said no, and the boy in question listened. Some would argue I was lucky.

I argue my date for that evening acted the way a human male SHOULD act. I said no. He stopped. It’s seriously that easy, people.

And thank you Mr Akin, for turning an abortion/women’s rights issue into a rape issue. Smooth. Let’s make women feel worse about not having control of our bodies by reminding us “HEY, why don’t you have control over your own bodies? Like absolute complete god-like control?”

Damn. I wouldn’t wish pregnancy from rape on anyone I love OR hated.

Enough of this stupid legitimate rape/not-rape talk, let’s get back to the issue, which is giving women their bodies back. And please, google that shit before you talk.

Why would I be pro-choice?? I love babies. I love kids. I have been pregnant four times and I love it. My big problem is? I HAVE been pregnant four times…I only have one living child. My last two miscarriages put me in the hospital. The second one was partial, and I had to have a D/C performed.

So why would I be pro-choice? Why should I support women who want abortions?
Because I know exactly what it feels like to have my reproductive choices taken away. To think, “Hey! My life might turn out the way I’d like it to!!” and have fate give me a crashing, devastating disappointment.

I wouldn’t want an abortion. If I found myself pregnant again, I would be absolutely gleeful. I would write out my birthplan, start window shopping for a breastpump, and pull out and wash my old baby sling and practice with a watermelon. I’d be ecstatic! I’d prepare my small family on how to fix homemade babyfood, I’d get my maternity leave budget in order, and start picking out nursery paint.

Now imagine someone who doesn’t want children, and has done everything in her power to prevent them. Being on the pill, using condoms, and any other barrier method she could think of, only to have it fail and give her an intrauterine parasite she hadn’t counted on….Can you imagine the fear? The uncertainty? the complete grief of her losing her lifestyle, that she wasn’t going to get what she had expected from her life, despite doing EVERYTHING she possibly could to keep everything on track, career, home, finances, maybe she has a medical condition which requires medicine she’d need to discontinue if she kept her pregnancy….

Know what? I know how she feels. It’s devastating. Watching my son’s potential siblings leave my body was more heartwrenching than I can describe.

Having to house a child this person doesn’t want, watching her freedom leaving HER body in the guise of having to grow a baby, a child she didn’t plan for? Then having society tell her “Tough shit, there’s nothing to do about it, TAKE YOUR PUNISHMENT FOR WANTING SEX” must be adding salt to the wound.
And the pregnancy!
You’re achy, you’re bloated, you’re sick, you are hungry, but you can’t eat because any kind of food makes you nauseaus, weird things are coming out of your body, you don’t want anyone touching you, then later on, you start to swell, you start to ache and have shortness of breath and weight gain….It’s like an autoimmune flare-up, but you can’t take anything because “BABY!”. And that’s during a HEALTHY pregnancy, god forbid you develop toxemia, pre-eclampsia, pregnancy induced rhinitis, pregnancy induced hypertension, or my favorite, HYPEREMESIS!!
Oh, I haven’t even gotten to the birthing part!

Why do people want to hurt and punish women like that? Let alone babies? Does that seem reasonable to you? It doesn’t to me, and I wouldnt’ wish it on anyone.

In fact, I would gladly support any one of my friends in the case of their decision to terminate a pregnancy.

I would drive her to the clinic myself.

I would hold her hand.

I would cry with her.

I wouldn’t judge. These women are your friends, co-workers, sisters, cousins….Why wouldn’t YOU do the same?

As I write this, I wonder how I’ll ever begin to cover this weekend without getting my own emotions tangled up into it, because really? It was very emotional and personal to me. Walking into any of the vendor rooms and seeing the guests was like walking straight into a Fangoria magazine from the mid-eighties. It was entirely nostalgic to me, and got me quite emotional at times. Or that could’ve been the cocktails….
I was fortunate enough to be involved with the Tim-O and Harley table who exclusively hosted Mr. Danny Hicks of “Evil Dead 2” and “Darkman” fame. I was lucky enough to help out with the table and run for drinks and hold seats, and I couldn’t have done it for a nicer bunch of guys. Danny Hicks was nothing but entertaining and gracious, trying to help make everyone’s convention experience as positive as it could be. Watching “Evil Dead II” when I was seventeen years old, I never expected I would be in such close proximity to one of the characters who had made it so campy and enjoyable, and I felt like the luckiest girl in the world.
Every guest and actor there was in good spirits, feeding the positive vibe and enjoying themselves as much as the patrons, which always results in running into Sid Haig at the pool chilling out with beer, or Brian O’Halloran at the bar, or Noah Hathaway outside taking a breather from the crowds. Anyone who was approached was gracious and happy to take a picture or give a hug to fans. As someone who watched these movies for so long, being able to approach an actor, have them talk to you like they’d known you years was such a thrill!
I personally finally got to meet and shake hands with Alex Winter, of “The Lost Boys” and “Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure” fame. I had been waiting so many years to meet him and it was wortht the wait. His easy smile and open manner made it so easy for me to talk to him, even though I was basically a quivering mass of jell-o on the inside.
I also got to meet the very charming Robert Rusler, Thom Matthews,Doug Bradley and Tom Loughlin, his lovely wife Karen, and I had ample opportunity to speak to every guest there. I have no complaints about the venue, and the hotel staff were available, friendly and very, very accomodating.
The hotel stay wasn’t without a few snags being stuck in the elevator one of them. However, we had Miko Hughes stuck with us keeping us company….Not going to complain too loudly about that!
It was a wonderful weekend full of friends, fun, nostalgia and some scary-looking characters who couldn’t resist playing along. Everyone kept it clean, the Horrorhound staff made sure everyone was taken care of and the Infernal Dreams camp had a very good time. Not bad for our first (but not last!) Horrorhound show, and a big thank you to Horrorhound staff and volunteers for working so hard to make this the memorable show that it was.